Eco-conflicts Volume 2 Number 1

Introduction Since the early 1990s, parts of Africa’s Great Lakes Region have experienced political strife, armed conflict and population displacements with severe humanitarian consequences. Despite great progress towards sustainable peace in all the countries of the region, sporadic violence continues in some areas, particularly in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Conflicts in the Great Lakes Region are highly interlinked, with political and military alliances, refugee movements, and ethnic solidarities tying the fates of the countries of the region. Processes to resolve and pre-empt violent conflict in all these countries are vital in order to bring regional peace. While violent conflicts in the region have clearly revolved around political struggles for the control of the state, generally involving the mobilization of ethnic identities, recent research has pointed to the significance of environmental variables in triggering and sustaining struggles for power in the region. The importance of these variables has recently been tested empirically by the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) under a project entitled “Ecological Sources of Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa”. Research was undertaken in Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia; and published in June 2002 in a book entitled Scarcity and Surfeit: The Ecology of Africa’s Conflicts. The research revealed the urgent need to incorporate ecological concerns in regional and international efforts at conflict prevention, management and resolution. Chapters of the book are available in electronic form on the ACTS publications webpage, http://www.acts. or.ke/outreach_pubs.htm. Contested rights to land and natural resources are a significant element in the dynamics of conflict in the region. Population movements – involving voluntary migration as well as forced displacement – are significant factors in some conflicts, and land disputes arising from the return of refugees can pose challenges to postconflict reconstruction. Localised environmental degradation (e.g. wildlife poaching and deforestation) are identified as causes of tension between groups in some areas. The need to resolve controversies over land and natural resources must therefore be a pivotal element of wider efforts to end violent political conflicts in the region. For this reason, ACTS is conducting research on these issues in Rwanda, Burundi and DRC by working with local researchers in each country, as well as organizations including the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Pretoria; LandNet Rwanda; Partnership for African Environmental Sustainability (PAES); and Forum on Early Warning and Early Response (FEWER). This USAID-funded project’s primary goal is to influence positively, through advocacy with relevant stakeholders, ongoing processes of land reform and debates on land rights in the Great Lakes Region, particularly as they affect or are affected by displaced populations. It is important that stakeholders in each area are able to learn from each other’s experiences. This will be achieved through research, networking and advocacy with a variety of actors, including government departments, civil society groups and non-governmental organizations.